Baiju Parthan

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biography

Born: India, Kerela

Baiju Parthan, a painter, born in 1956 in Kerala, India is known as a pioneer of intermedia art in India. While elaborating the workings of a mysterious inner universe through his paintings, Parthan has combined his painterly concerns with his explorations of cyberspace to produce a series of provocative, richly textured installations.

Baiju Parthan's works focus on the instrumentalization of nature for human use and consumption. In his large-scale work 'Ointment (Unguentum Kosmographia)', shown at 'Size Matters...Or Does It? I', he creates a cosmological grid through which to see a fly. A measured and documented body, the fly provides a model and foundation for the machine of war in his smaller work shown at the same exhibition, 'Ointment 2'. The helicopter in this smaller image offers a clue into the spectrum of design and uses that are appropriated from nature. A forensic study of the fly's body draws parallels between science and violence, suggesting a co-dependence of generative and destructive forces.